How To Wash Your Produce The Right Way

Learn the right way on how to wash your produce before eating. Check out the article we found over at Juicing For Health.

Though fruits and vegetables should be at the core of your diet, they do come with their risks, just like any other type of food. By the time it hits your kitchen, produce may be infected by bacteria, soaked in pesticides, or have a thin layer of dirt on its surface. For all of these reasons, washing vegetables is absolutely essential.

Food-borne illness is often seen as harmless, simply causing a bit of nausea and perhaps vomiting or diarrhea. Food-borne illnesses can be very dangerous, though, especially for at-risk populations like elderly adults and very young children. You can significantly cut down your risk by washing your produce.

ORGANIC VS. CONVENTIONAL PRODUCE

You may already know that buying organic produce is a great way to minimize your exposure to pesticides, antibiotics, and other unwelcome food additives. However, even if you buy organic food, you should still wash your produce.

Keep in mind that it is even more crucial to wash your produce if you eat conventional fruits and vegetables. This type of produce is often liberally sprayed with pesticides to keep bugs off and weeds out.

These pesticides seep into fibers of the food, and make their way into your body. You can’t totally eliminate pesticides by washing your produce, so organic is still the best way to go, but you can get rid of some surface-level pesticides with a good wash.

HOW TO PROPERLY WASH VEGETABLES

I usually get asked if you should wash your vegetables before storing them away, or wash them just before you juice. It really depends on you.

If you want to wash your vegetables before storing them away in order to save preparation time when you’re ready to juice, then be sure to dry your vegetables completely before putting them away. Putting your vegetables away (especially leafy ones) will cause them to rot faster.

I usually buy enough produce for one time juicing, store them in the fridge and prepare them when I’m ready to juice. Each time I juice, I may spend about 1-2 hours for the entire process of soaking, washing, cutting and juicing. This way I actually save one step of having to dry them and storage packaging.

Following the proper steps is key to washing your produce. This process walks you through it:

• Run the produce you want to use under running lukewarm or cold water to remove excess dirt and soil. Do this a couple of times if necessary.
• Gently massage the produce to get out any stubborn dirt.
• Fill up a clean sink or a bucket with just enough water to cover your produce. Add in about ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar for about ½ sink of water, and a ¼ teaspoon of seasalt and leave the produce to soak for about 5-10 minutes. You may also use organic vegetable liquid soap if you can find that at your local health foodstore.
• When you come back later, you may see that the the water is dirty and may smell. Discard this water and rinse your produce a couple more times.
• Your produce is now ready to use.

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Read full article: TIPS ON WASHING YOUR VEGETABLES (AND HOW TO DO IT PROPERLY)